Fines doubled as teens outsmart Australia's world-first social media ban

knolan

Like enforcing mandatory bicycle helmets in Australia, this law is either massively misguided or serves another purpose. While politicians are often stupid, they can’t think we’re that stupid? If you don’t want your kids accessing certain websites then the onus is on parents to control access. I do. If you want to do this structurally do it with ISPs and mobile carriers with router and SIM level filtering. Put age limits on the ability to buy a device, SIM or internet package like we do for so many other things. It would be trivial to restrict access (and just as easy for smart kids to bypass as the current system). Don’t use an iPad to babysit your child. Let them discover technology in an environment you’re confident and comfortable with. But it’s your job as a parent. Or is all this really just about more mass surveillance under the guise of protecting the children?

zx8080

How? As a non-Australian, I came here and even opened the article (only to see "error: Please allow ads on our site") out of curiosity how the teenagers bypass the age check. No details! How do they bypass it?

BobbyTables2

Considering elementary school kids have no trouble bypassing school firewalls, I’d be genuinely disappointed if teens couldn’t do better…

kelseyfrog

The fine - 99 million Australian dollars (€63mn) - should be directed toward parents. Repeat after me: if we want parental behavior to change, then we have to change the incentives.